KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 – Dr Chandra Muzaffar (picture), who heads the Yayasan 1 Malaysia (Y1M), believes a national consultative council on religious harmony is the best way to resolve the current “Allah” row.
“We feel such a council is necessary at this point,” Chandra told to The Malaysian Insider today, following the latest church attack in Johor.
The Catholic St Elizabeth Church in Kota Tinggi was found splashed with red paint this morning, police confirmed, making it the ninth church vandalised in two weeks after a court ruled that a Catholic newspaper had the right to publish the word “Allah” in the Christian sense.
Several Muslim groups in Malaysia, where Islam is gazetted as the official religion, are up in arms over the judgment. They claim the Arabic word is reserved solely for use by Muslims.
Chandra, who also lectures in global studies in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), noted the increasingly antagonistic positions taken by both Muslims and non-Muslims towards each other .
“We need an effective mechanism for communication so that we can understand each other’s positions,” he explained when asked how the damage over the recent church attacks and “Allah” row could be repaired.
He added that the council, once established, would be able to pass on “rational and sober” policies to Cabinet and Parliament to be carried out.
While he has yet to speak directly to Datuk Seri Najib Razak, whom he regards as the best person to chair the council, Chandra said that the PM’s cousin, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein who is also the home minister, represents the government and has indicated deep interest.
Chandra, who is also a member of the Islamic consultative council in the Prime Minister’s Department, expressed confidence that such a council could be established within the first quarter of the year, or by April.
“I’m positive. The minister of home affairs responded very positively,” he said.
“His response in public was that he wanted to explain this idea. He wanted to meet me,” the 62-year-old don added.
Chandra disclosed that he has shared the idea with several influential parties, including the editor-priest of the controversial Herald, Father Lawrence Andrew; the former Perlis mufti Dr Asri Zainul Abidin and even the Hindu Sangam, and their feedback has generally been “very good.”
Talk of an inter-faith consultative council is not new, as Chandra readily admitted, but he is “quietly optimistic” that Y1M’s proposal will be a success this time around because “the government has to make sure the situation is under control.”
“Law and order are to be given priority,” he said, noting that tensions between the Muslim and Christian communities had calmed down now compared to the protests earlier right after the court decision came out.
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